Transposer for automatic pianos and the like



Oct. 9, 1923.

R. HEAD TRANSPOSER FOR AUTOMATIC PIANOS AND rm-z LIKE Original Filed Aug. 19. 1920 2 Shuts-Sheet anvewto'c JW Gluten mu flaw/ Oct. 9, 1923.

, R. HEAD TRANSPOSER FOR AUTOMATIC PIANOS AND THE LIKE Original Filed Aug. 19.

1920 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 mw M i vwewtoz dm Patented Oct. 9, 1923.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ROBERT HEAD, or YONKERSL NEW YORK, assmNoR '20 THE AEOLIAN COMPANY, A

CORPORATION OF CONNECTICUT.

TRANSPOSER FOR AUTOMATIC PIANOS AND THE LIKE.

Application filed Augnst 19, 920,. Serial No. 404,509Q Renewed ma 1, 1922. Serial No. 557,783.

To all whom/it may concern:

Be it known that I, Ronn1rr HEAD, a citizen of theUnited States, residing at Yonkers, Vestchester County, New York, have invented new and usef -ul lm rovements in Transposeis for Automatic ianos and the like, of which the following is a specification.

My present invention relates to improvements in'transposers folj aiitomatic pianos and the like. It accurately :efiects the transposition of the music to the desired key, and then automatically locks ra nd maintains the parts in their, then position t rou bout theing the following description in connection with the drawin s. These purport to illustrate only one o the specific embodiments my inventionis adapted to take Fig. 1 being a fragmentary front elevation of the music-roll box and ;related parts of a player-piano embodying myv invention; Fig. 2 isaplan vievv partlyin horizontal section on the line 22 inFig. 1; Fig. 3 is a front elevation of the tracker-board and my device on an enlarged scale; Fig. 4 is a view looking upwardly at the devices shown at the right in Fig. 3; Figs. 5 and 6 are vertical views respectively on the lines 5-4) and 6 6 in Fig, 3 looking in the direction of the arrows; and Fig. 7 is a rear elevation of the tracker-board with my dcvices.for simplicity, said figure omitting showing the tracker tubes or ducts.

Describing now the devices ofrthe drawiugsu-l is the music-roll box of a playerpiauo. Q is a music-roll and sheet in play-/ ing! position; 3 is the take-up spool; 4 is my improved tracker-board; 5 is the air-motor for driving the music-101136 is'the lever for opemting the clutch 7 so that the motor 5 can be caused to drive the take-up spool 3 to draw the perforated musicsheet down wardly over the tracker-board to play it. this being the condition shown in Fig. 1; or viee vorsa when the clutclrmember 7 is slid to the right in,Fig. 1, said motor is made to drive the spool of the music-roll and thereby rewind the music-sheet back on to saidspool.

For the abovepurposes the; following well knownarran ement is provided comprising sproc ket-n heel 8 on the air-motor crank-shaft. 9, driving by chain '10 a shaft but slidable thereon by the lever 6 piv- 'otally supported. at so as ,to carry the clutch-pinlS into and out of rotary: clutchengag'enient with the pin 14.. The aforesaid clutch-member? has an annularigroove in which thenpper end of the lever 6 is seated. Further, it .is provided with the pinion 21 adapted to be brought'intoand ut of mesh witlrthe gear-wheel 22 on the drive shaft 23 ofthe take-up spool The clutch-lever 6 is operated through a link 24' from a fingerpiece at the key-slip of the piano and which obviously it is not necessary to illustrate, or automatically from a perforation in the'music-roll ,in the well-known manner.

My tracker-board comprises a stationary part 4 provided with pedal-Operating ducts 25, 26, 27 and theme-aceenting ducts 28 and 29 at its ends. It is also provided at each end on a line above the aforesaid duets with dynamics-controlling ducts 30. For the entire length. of said part 4 of the tracker-bar between the aforesaid right and left-hand sets of ducts. said part L is cut. away by a long, wide, rectangular opening 31. This opening has narrower extensions 31 from its ends in line with the aforesaidducts 25, 26, 28, 29, 27 and underneath the d v.namicsducts 30.

353-3232 is the endwise slidable or transposable part of the tracker-bar operatively supportedwithin the desrrihed opening 3l31-31" in the stationary part d of the tracker-bar. This slidablepart 32- 32-32" has the same form as the opening 3131-?11 excet that its wide part 32 is notso long as t e wide part of the opening 3} to-permit said part 32 32 32? to he slid eiidwise in said opening 31-31-31".

lhe slidable part 323232 is provided 36 and 37 carried by the slid-able part of the with the usuel irow ,of note-operating tre cker-bar 33. thos'er-biligin lihe witli-stiititihaty-the? 52- 52 are leaf-springs mounted on the 26, 28, 29, 27. From Figs. 1 and 3 it elbow-levers and tensioned so as to bear away will that s]idnl le,;-,pa r t ,g;f tlrefroinsuid levors'against the pawls 4.3 whose (f k r-b r can be hift d f .ig qent ugl pins .45? in lig. they keep seated in the reposition four note-ducts to the left and four eesses in the rounded read-end of the handle to the right, whieluigi es' +'a;. rangewfltfiztnsi'rfii).uflhe spring 46 is more powerful than these leaf-springs so that it is not overcome their action.

Fig. 4 shows the slidable tracker-bar part locked against unintentional displacement in itsfmiddle position (relative to the' stationary part 4 of the tracker) by the forward ends of the elbow-levers t-engaging'the aforesaid the tracker-bar, snd'th'eenie time 5- use 1 1 l e 2r eqn"1s[n is unlocked in any of its et'd j' transposed positions, the sli dahle trzielicr dc-t pait32 32- 32 is automatically returned o f 's" id"j ertb iei'lhppiiiiithe were? to'it's c'ntlrlil, u'ntrans'posed position by means part 32 of the tracker-Hal and prr'ii ided with j two sets of right and lefthpitehe t-tetli :1ri'd37 (Fig. 4) between jivhich' the ntmk toothed space 38. 39' is the' operatihg" insult: of thetransposer, pivotally' silpp'or'tedat '(l on a bracket 41 screwed'to the haclifof the' inherent amine-e247 trig? is a pin on the back ofsliidf s lidfihle'ptrt at its longitndiiml cenfiiid 48'is another adjacent pin on the 3 fi'fie tl tiit'eltenpiirt t at the longitudinal cenwit-6f nie'f peeing in which the slidahle tiiickerp'ettslides. 149-49are a pair of separate "plates with elongated rectangular o'pehings' therein hooked over the aforesaid pins'47"4 8 Spifsil tensioued springs 50-50 co 'ihec t'th'e' outer ends'ot the plates 49-l9 with piiis' Si -5 1 located towards the ends of the statioriiry ii'urt 4 of the tracker-bar. 'Wbeii the handle 39 is rocked one. two,

three 'or'ifo ni times to the right and hack encl'i'tlni'eto'its middle position, it shifts to the"left"th'e riltc het toothed member and l sliidahle'triicker part 3232-32 to the extent respectively of one. two. three or four rntohet 'teetl'i zihdloclts them there; in other words. accurately transposes the music-perforations in the sheet 2 to the extent of the same numb m" notes in the right hand or treble direction on the piano keyboard.

,In detail :Rocl:ing the handle 59 to the stationary tracker-liar pa'rt t'and'projecting) right moves the left-hand pawl 42. (Fig. 4)

forwardly to the fron't of the'tra'clcei'-l'ar through a horizontally elongated slot 432'. f

When the slidable tracker-hair 32 33-32 is in the center position. the nontoothed part 38 of its integral member 35 is loeatcd at the pivot 40 of the said handle 39.

The handle 39 has a flat fan-shaped 'r'cal end 39* on which are mounted the pawls' 4.3 43 by the pivots -6". The pawls'ha've pins 43"43- coaeti'ngfrith corresponding; recesses in the rounded reii ren'd ef the handle. i"

44-44 are a pen of elh'mr-lme'i s p'iv'oted at 4545 to the bracket th 4fijisln piece"of spring-wire bent into circular form i'vith'fi t'e ends secured to rear-ends of sniwhlbo r le vers, said spring therefore keeping'the r'c'arends of the Cll'JOWdCVGt'S apart'and. forcing their forward ends towards and into interlocking engagement with the"rzit'ehet-teeth carrying it, upwardly to" the leftl' the adjacent leafspring 52 into the aligned rattjhetspaqti: the continuing right-hand mo'i'i-mem of the handle causing; the pawl to slide the movable tracker pa t 1l2'IL a trifle more than one ratchct-tooth to the loft afininstlhc tension of the opposed spring il (des rrihcd above in connection with Fig. T).

This cansesthe left-hand clljimr-lvver -H in Fig. 4'. impelled'by the spring 46. to ride into the' next adjacent ratchetspace to the right.

On the return movement of the handle 39. the iitoresaid spring 5 takes up the slight lost. motion ,by pulling the tracker part 2 given ratchet-tooth ahnts against the end 01 said left-hand clbmv'lever 44'. This insures jthat 'ea'ch vibration of the handle 35- gives a moitcment to the sliding tracker part which is"ei;;1ctly equal to one ratchet'tooth, which Inn .ahove' cycle of opr' in turn is designed to be exactly equal to the distance between centers of the adjacent nolealucts Itwill be seen from Fig. 4 that this move ment of the tracker part 2393-32-32 could not be accomplished without the preliminary release of the right-hand elbow-lever 44: from its locking engagei'nent with the rack 37. However, this takes place automatically duringuie first part of the right-hand movement of the handle' 39, because the notched rounded end bf said handle by'bearing or abutting against the pin 43 of the righthaiid pawl 43 (Fig. 4) forces the free end of said pawl downwardly against the spring 52 and swings the elboiwlever 44 out of its lockingengagementwith the rack 37. As the latter part of the frighthand movement of th'e handle 39,; as above described, feeds the tracker-bar and rack one tooth or step to the left; this same right-hand elbow-lever, im-

polled by thespfring 16, enters into lockingengagement. with the neat adjacent tooth to the riglit in the rack 37 in Fig. 4.

,Thes 'n'ings automatically return the handie and ar-ten) their Fl"; 4 position.

;In the -same way, ci'ery' complete righthand vibra'tion of th handle'39 efl'ects the us and shifts the tracker to transpose the music one note. The same is true forerery left-hand vibration of the ha'ndle39, the soleidifi'e rence, being that the transposition is in the opposite direction of life musical scale. s a

A fter the ge ks-m been shifted to effect the total designed number of transpositions, in either. direction, itcannot be shifted any further in spite of continued operation of the handle, because then the toe of the given pawl 43, then in action, merely rides idly on the untoothed center portion 38 (Fig. 4) of the member 35. p

The locking action of the elbow-levers ilk-an be released at any time by the handle 3!) as followsz Assume, for instance that the tracker 323232 has been shifted one or more teeth .to the left from-its center position shown in Fig. 4. Then the lefthaii l elbow-lever 4-1 will be holding it in that pos tion against the tension of the opprsed spring 50 (Fig. 7) tending to pull the tracker to the right. It will be seen then that rocking the handle 39 to the left will release said active left-hand elbowlerer. \.'hereupon said spring will be free to pull the tracker part 323232 to the right until the end of the opening in its attached plate 49 (Fig. 7) strikes against the fixed centralizing pin 48. which means that the given spring 50 returns the tracker part to its central non-transposed position When it remains until readjusted by furher operating the handle 39.

The following is also an important feature or my invention whereby after each roll played with the tracker-bar transposed, the device z iutoinatically returns the tracker bar to its central position. The reason and advantage of, this is that many rolls do not needvtransposition and are spoiled by it,

or at any rate the roll about to be played will not ordinarily be properly transposed exactly like the roll that has just been playcd.- For this reason, I provide for the automatic return of the tracker to normal after each transposed roll played, by means as follows:

.55 (Fi s. 1 and 2) is an arm secured fast to \eriicalrock-shaft 56 supported in a bearing member 57 on the rightside of the music-roll box .1. Fast on the lower end of this pick-shaft is another arm 58 at right angles to thearm 55. The free end of said arm 58 is forked to straddle the clutch shaft 12 and engage the enlarged head l2 on the end of .said shaft. 59 is ,a tension spring normally holding the arms and 58 in the positionshown m Fig. 2. lVhen, the given music-roll has been played with the transposer in use, and the operator shifts the clutch-lever 6 (Fig. 1) to carry the pin 18 of clutch sleeve 7 into engagement with the pin 14 to rewind the music-roll. the whole clutch-shaft 12 will be shifted slightly to the right so that its head 12, pulling on the arm 58. forces the other arm 55 towardsthe rear-endsof the elbow-levers HA1 (compare 2 aml 4), whereby thedn gs 55 55 on said arm cam together said rear-ends of the elbow-lerers. thereby unlocking their front ends (Fig. 4) from therack on the tracker part 323232 which is then ins-mntly restored by the springs 5(l5(l. etc. (Fig. 7) back to its central nontransposed position. This accomplishesuthe foregoing purpose with its resulting advantages.

'hat I claim is:

1. In combination with an automatic player nsingperforaled nmsic-sheets. means for adjusting a part of the player to transpose the music; and means for automatically resi'im-ing said part to a normal nonlransposing position. said means being put into operation from the resetting of the instrument for another playing.

2. In combination with an automatic hlaycr using perforated music-sheets means For adjusting a part of the player to trans pose the music until said part is released; means for releasing said part automatically ope ated from resetting the instrument for another playing aml means for automatirally restoring said part to a normal, non transposing position.

3. In combination with an automatic player using perforated music-sheets, means for adjusting a part of the player to transpose the music until said part is released; lllt'illlri i'or rewinding the music-sheet; means IOU playerf using perforated music-sheets, a movable part for transposing the music, two racks 'with oppositely directed teeth connected with said part; a vibratable handle having two pawls, one for each rack, for

" moving the transposer part in one direction said raeks. said or the other, depending on which pawl and rack is in operation two locking members springpressed into locking engagement with Y awls coactlng with said members whereby moving the handle in either d rection from a central position, brings one ofthe pawls' into operative engagement with its rack and causes the other pawl to disengage the locking member from the other rack.

'5. In'combination with an automatic player using perforated music-sheets, a movable part for transposing the'inusic; two racks with "oppositely directed teeth connected with said part; a vibratedf handle having two pawls, one for each rack, ,for moving the transposer' part in one direction or the other, depending on which pawl and rack is in operation; two locking members springpressed into locking engagement with said racks, said pawls coaeting with said members whereby moving the handle in either direction from a central positiombrings one of the pawls into operative engagement with its rack and causes the other pawl to disengage the locking member from the other rack; and spring means normally keeping the pawls slightly spaced respectively from the locking members. i

6. ln combination with an automatic player using perforated music-sheets, a movable part for transposing the music; means which when unopposed returns said transposer part to a normal, non-transposing position; two racks with oppositely directed teeth connected with said part; a vibratable handle having two pawls, one for each rack, for moving the transposer part in one direc tion or the other.- depending on which pawl and rack is in operation; two locking members spriugpressed into locking engage ment with said racks, said pawls enacting with said members whereby moving the handlc in either direction from a central position, brings one of the pawls into operative engagement with its rack and causes the oiliPI pawl to disengage the locking member from the other rack.

T. In an automatic player using perforated musiosheets, the coi'nbination of a movable part for transposing the music; means which when unopposed, returns said transposer part to a normal, non-transposing position; and means for giving said transposor part a step by step movement to cll'ect transpositions and for releasably locking said part in any of its said positions.

8. in combination with an automatic playor using perforated music-sheets, a movable part for transposing the music; means tending to restore the movable part to a normal, non-transposing position; a rack connected with said part; a member spring-pressed into releasable locking engagement with said rack; a vibratablc handle; and a pawl operable by said handle into engagement with said rack to give it and the transposer part a stcp-bystcp movement into various transposing positions.

9. In combination with an automatic player usin perforated music-sheets, a movable part ibitransposing the music; two racks connected with said transposer part, the teeth of which are directed toward each other; a pivotally supported handle having two oppositely directed pawls for engaging the racks, said pawls being severally pivoted to said handle; two pivotally supported locking members extending adjacently to the pawls and both being spring-pressed into locking engagement with the racks: springs holding the pawls yieldingly spaced from the aforesaid adjacent locking members; and an abutment between each pawl and the handle whereby "ibrating the bandle to either side of a central position presses one pawl against the adjacent spacing spring and locking member, disengaging the latter from its rack and at the same time carries the other pawl into operative engagement with its rack.

10. In combination with an automatic player using perforated musicsshccts, a movable part for transposiug the music; two racks connected with said trans 'ioscr part, the teeth of which are directed toward each other; a pivotally supported handle having two oppositely directed pawls for engaging the racks, said paw'ls 'being severally pivoted to said handle, two pivotally supported locking members eitending adjacently to the pawls, said members having adjacent extensions away from the racks; spring means tending to force said extensions apart and to force the locking members into engagement with the racks; springs holding the pawls yieldingly spaced from said adjacent locking members; an abutment between each pawl and the handle whereby vibrating the handle to either side of a central position presses one pawl against the adjacent spacing spring and locking member, disengaging the latter from its rack and at the same time carries the other pawl into operative engagement with its rack; means which when unopposed restores the transposcr part to a normal nontransposing position with the handle between the two racks; and means for pressing together the extensions from the locking members to disengage the latter from the racks, said means being itself operated from the resetting of the instrument for another playing.

11. In combination With an automatic player using perforated music-sheets, means for adjusting and releasably retaining a part of the player to transpose the music; and means which when said part is released auto maticalb' restores it to a normal non-transposing position.

12. In combination With an automatic player using perforated music-sheets, means for adjusting and releasably retaining a part of the player to transpose the music; automatic means which when said part is released, automatically restores it to a normal noirlransposing position; and means for re leasing said part put into operation by the performing of another function in connection with the player.

13. In combination with an automatic player using perforated nuisic-sheets, means for adjusting a part of the player to trans pose the music; and means for automatically restoring said part to a normal non-transposing position, said means being put into operation by the performing of another function in connection with the player.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this 13th day of August, 1920.

ROBERT HEAD. 

